The present invention relates to a vacuum process apparatus comprising a control means for determining an order of loading samples of the vacuum process apparatus having a plurality of process chambers and a method of operating the vacuum process apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a vacuum process apparatus and a method of operating the vacuum process apparatus, which can improve the efficiency of processing samples in the operation of parallel processes using a plurality of process chambers.
A vacuum process apparatus having a control means for determining the order of loading samples into a plurality of process chambers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-189687. This vacuum process apparatus has a system connecting a plurality of process chambers in which process scheduling is performed based on a priority order of the samples to be processed.
Further, a vacuum process apparatus for performing processing in parallel using a plurality of process chambers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-133532. In a case where processing is performed in the vacuum process apparatus of a system connecting a plurality of process chambers to a transfer chamber in parallel, samples are loaded in the order of loading samples to the two process chambers so that the numbers of the samples from two sample cassettes become equal to each other.
In the case where processing is performed in a plurality of process chambers in parallel, since the processing time will not always be equal in all of the process chambers, even if samples are loaded in the order of loading samples to the two process chambers so that the numbers of the samples from two sample cassettes become equal to each other, there is a problem in that useless waiting time occurs in loading the samples into the process chambers.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum process apparatus with the aim of improving the efficiency of sample processing in the overall vacuum process apparatus in operation of parallel processing using a plurality of process chambers and a method of operating the vacuum process apparatus.
In order to attain the foregoing object, the present invention is characterized by a vacuum process apparatus comprising a plurality of cassettes for containing samples; a transporting means for transporting said samples; a plurality of vacuum process chambers each for processing said samples one by one; an evacuation means for evacuating said vacuum process chambers; a load chamber and an unload chamber communicating with said vacuum process chambers; and an apparatus control means for controlling transporting and processing of said samples, wherein
said apparatus control means measures a time period during which each of said samples is transported and a processing time period in each of said vacuum process chambers, and determines the next extracting order of said samples from said plurality of cassettes based on said measured time periods.
Another feature of the present invention involves provision of a vacuum process apparatus comprising a plurality of cassettes for containing samples; a transporting means for transporting said samples; a plurality of vacuum process chambers each for processing said samples one by one; an evacuation means for evacuating said vacuum process chambers; a load chamber and an unload chamber communicating with said vacuum process chambers; and an apparatus control means for controlling transporting and processing of said samples, wherein
said apparatus control means calculates a required time until completion of preparation of the start of processing of a newly loaded sample using a time period of sample loading to and a time period of sample unloading from each of said vacuum process chambers, and a processing time period of each of the samples, and loads a sample from a cassette corresponding to a vacuum process chamber having the shortest required time among said vacuum process chambers to said vacuum process chamber.
Another feature of the present invention involves provision of a vacuum process apparatus comprising a plurality of cassettes for containing samples; a transporting means for transporting said samples; a plurality of vacuum process chambers each for processing said samples one by one; an evacuation means for evacuating said vacuum process chambers; a load chamber and an unload chamber communicating with said vacuum process chambers; and an apparatus control means for controlling transporting and processing of said samples, wherein said apparatus control means comprises:
a transporting and processing time measuring means for measuring and calculating a time period of sample loading to and a time period of sample unloading from each of said vacuum process chambers, and a sample processing time period in each of said vacuum process chambers;
a sample processing waiting time estimating means for calculating and estimating a required time until completion of preparation of the start of processing of a newly loaded sample using said time period of sample loading to and said time period of sample unloading from and said sample processing time period in each of said vacuum process chambers;
a sample processing order determining means having a function to determine a next extracting order of said samples based on data on said time period of sample loading to and said time period of sample unloading from and said waiting time period obtained; and
a sample transporting and processing control means having a function to control the overall vacuum process apparatus so as to perform sample processing and sample transporting based on the result determined by said sample processing order determining means.
The vacuum process apparatus in accordance with the present invention selects a vacuum process chamber among the plurality of vacuum process chambers which has the shortest required time period from completion of sample processing under way now to completion of preparation to load a new sample. That is, in the vacuum process apparatus performing processing in parallel using a plurality of vacuum process chambers, in order to shorten the waiting time period until loading of a sample transported to the vacuum process apparatus into the vacuum process chamber, it is necessary to select a vacuum process chamber among the plurality of vacuum process chambers which has the shortest required time period from completion of sample processing under way now to completion of preparation to load a new sample.
According to the vacuum process apparatus in accordance with the present invention, the order of processing samples is determined by taking the waiting time period into consideration. Therefore, the sample processing efficiency can be improved because a vacuum process chamber series capable of fast processing can process second and third samples, while a process chamber series of slow processing is processing a first sample.
According to the vacuum process apparatus in accordance with the present invention, the waiting time period in the vacuum process apparatus can be minimized. Further, it is possible to shorten the time period from extracting a sample from a sample cassette and performing processing to returning the sample to the cassette.
Furthermore, since the time period for completing processing for each sample can be shortened, the processing time period for one sample cassette can be shortened.
Still further, by shortening the time period of processing for a first sample cassette, the timing to start processing of a second sample cassette can be made earlier. Therefore, there is an effect in that it is possible to improve the sample processing efficiency of the overall vacuum process apparatus per unit time.